Airborne Wind Energy involves harvesting wind energy to produce electricity, many embodiments of which use kite/wing designs. The generation of electricity using kites/wings is strongly dependent on the trajectory of the flight vehicle. When the airfoil is in a power generation cycle, the roll angle relative to the tether varies continuously throughout the cycle and with changing wind conditions. This rolling orients the lift force of the kite/wing to balance other forces on the vehicle and generate required centripetal accelerations for turning.
Rigid winged vehicles (wing) are generally more desirable for Airborne Wind Energy because they are more aerodynamically efficient than soft wing kites.